"The Supreme Court can sometimes seem like an unsentimental place, and Monday was one of those times," begins Tony Mauro of the Legal Times. After the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Sam Alito's nomination to the full senate Monday for likely approval, Mauro looked inside the court's chambers and inside the mindset of its first female justice, who is soon headed into a busy retirement. Mauro continues:

"It was probably Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's final day on the bench after 25 years on the Court, yet no one paused to note that fact. No final huzzahs, no commendations from her colleagues, nothing. Two justices, John Paul Stevens, and Antonin Scalia, were not even on the bench for the occasion.

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who will soon become the only woman left on the high court, seemed more forlorn than usual, and O'Connor herself seemed somber. But other than that it was just another day..."

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Happy trails to the first cowgirl on the U.S. Supreme Court

"The Supreme Court can sometimes seem like an unsentimental place, and Monday was one of those times," begins Tony Mauro of the Legal Times. After the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Sam Alito's nomination to the full senate Monday for likely approval, Mauro looked inside the court's chambers and inside the mindset of its first female justice, who is soon headed into a busy retirement. Mauro continues:

"It was probably Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's final day on the bench after 25 years on the Court, yet no one paused to note that fact. No final huzzahs, no commendations from her colleagues, nothing. Two justices, John Paul Stevens, and Antonin Scalia, were not even on the bench for the occasion.

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who will soon become the only woman left on the high court, seemed more forlorn than usual, and O'Connor herself seemed somber. But other than that it was just another day..."